My hopes and aspirations for Northern Territory education were lifted by reading Education Minister Jo Hersey’s column “Priority is to fix downturn in School Attendance” (The Sunday Territorian, 26/1/2025).

The Minister hits on the nub of the issue that has been the Achilles heel of education for as long as I can remember.

From the time I connected with NT Education in 1975 until retiring in 2012—and then as someone who has studied our schooling system in the years since—the attendance issue has been education’s number one challenge. 

Throughout the years, countless schemes have been devised to rectify the problem, with the funding and endorsement of both NT and the Commonwealth Education Department. None have worked. The issue is as challenging now as it has ever been.

I hope the actions proposed by the Minister for non compliance come to pass. However, I caution that in past years and decades, successive Territory Governments have pulled back from the ultimate action of holding parents accountable by imposing financial sanctions.  

From my past involvement in these matters, I know that to be the case—it’s been about time-consuming processes and no action outcomes.

Text of letter published in the NT News